Its Not Over
by lukkyles
Summary: No time to rest. No time to ask questions. Just survive
1. Chapter 1

"So...lets keep moving.." Joel said. He knew she didn't believe him. Not fully anyway. It made him question his decision. His decision to save her but...would she had really wanted to give up her life for a chance at a cure? Or-

"Ok, let's go" Ellie said she said trying to force a smile.

"Ok..." Joel meekly replied. They headed down the hillside in silence. The skies were beautiful, the perfect mix of blue with an orange haze in the horizon. The breeze was chilling as it collided with the sweat they built up because of hike toward the town. Joel stole glances at Ellie, who walked behind him, head looking down as she buried herself in her own thoughts. He sighed. His own guilt was slowly creeping up on him, threatening to strangle him if given a chance. No. He wouldn't let it. He made...he made the right choice. he needed to do something, anything to lighten the mood. It only took a few seconds and a smile etched its way unto his face.

"I said Grandpa what's this picture here..." Joel began.

"What?" Ellie said, looking up at his face, puzzled at such a random comment from him.

_"It's all black and white, and it ain't real clear_" Joel continued, much more in tune than before. Then it hit her. He was singing. A mischievous smile was slowly making its way on her face as she continued to listen.

_"Is that you there, he said yeah, I was eleven_

_And times were tough, back in thirty-five_

_That's me and Uncle Joe just tryin' to survive_

_A cotton farm, in the Great Depression" _It felt strange and awkward to Joel at first. It's been so long since he's done this, so long since he had time to do this. So long since he had a reason to do this. He slowed down his pace a little while really getting into the song. He must admit that this...it felt great!

_"And if it looks like we were scared to death_

_Like a couple of kids just trying to save each other_

_You should've seen it in color" _Ellie chuckled a bit at those words. Somehow she thought it sounded funny. She didn't know what song it was but she was clearly amused and the sight before her. Joel. Singing. She silently urged him to continue by walking closer to him.

_"This one here was taken overseas_

_In the middle of hell, in nineteen forty-three_

_In the winter time, you can almost see my breath_

_That was my tail gunner ole' Johnny McGee_

_He was a high school teacher from New Orleans_

_And he had my back, right through the day we left"_

_If it looks like we were scared to death_

_Like a couple of kids just trying to save each other_

_You should've seen it in color_

_A picture's worth a thousand words_

_But you can't see what those shades of gray keep covered_

_You should've seen it in color_

_And this one is my favorite one_

_This is me and grandma in the, summer sun_

_All dressed up, the day we said our vows_

_You can't tell it here but it was hot that June_

_And that rose was red and her eyes were blue_

_And just look at that smile, I was so proud_

_That's the story of my life_

_Right there in black and_ whiteeee"...his voice cracked.

"Haha. What was that?" Ellie asked laughing.

"Hey it's been a mighty long time, I'd say this old man did pretty good yes?" He responded, visibly happy that Ellie had brightened up.

"It's not bad...haha. Ok it was pretty good. Except that last part," Ellie laughed. "Did you write that song?"

"No it's a song by-a...Jamey Johnson," Joel replied, "it was one of my favorites back in the day."

"Oh, well it's nice," she replied smiling.

"Yeah..." Joel sighed, "ok we're almost there." Ellie was taken aback a bit. She didn't know that they were this close to the town. She was so caught up with Joel's song that she didn't pay attention to where she was going.

"So what happens when we get there?" Ellie asked.

"Well, we try to just...settle down I guess. Take it easy," he responded.

"That sounds good," said Ellie, "right now Im starving though."

"Always hungry," laughed Joel.

"Hey it's not my fault I'm growing up," retorted Ellie.

"Ok, ok. As soon as we get there we'll have something to eat," Joel answered as they approached the main gate of the town. The town was surrounded by thick barricades made of metal and wood with barbed wire structures that stood about 20 feet off the ground. It certainly looked sturdy enough to offer protection.

"Ok but you'll have to carry me soon if we don't," Ellie spoke.

"Wait, listen. You hear that?" Joel asked. Ellie listened and furrowed her eyebrows.

"I don't hear anything," said Ellie.

"Exactly," Joel said deadpan, "no guards either." Ellie thought for a bit.

"Maybe it's nothing, maybe it's just the way it is," Ellie said.

"Maybe..." Said Joel, " alright help me with this." He nodded toward the gate. Both he and Ellie pushed the heavy gates open and peered inside.

"Where is everybody?" asked Ellie.

"Maybe further down," Joel said. They closed the gate behind them proceeded to walk further inside the settlement. Both of them couldn't help but keep their guards up because it was quiet. Too quiet. They threaded cautiously, creeping up to the nearest house they saw. It was a simple wooden house with windows that were shielded by wood instead of glass. It looked recently built also, probably no more than a year old. Joel peered inside.

"Nothing," he stated simply. He crept along the side of the house, with Ellie right on his heels. There was nothing when he looked on the other side. He heard no sounds of movement, he didn't hear anything at all except the accelerated breathing of Ellie behind him. The place so far seemed...deserted.

"Let's check these houses, see if there's anything or anyone that can help us," Joel said.

"Right," Ellie said. They headed to the house directly opposite to the one they were just at before and it looked basically the same.

"Alright stay close," Joel said as they entered through the front door. Everything seemed in order, but there was dust everywhere. All the furniture and eating utensils, the toys in the corner next to the bed. All dusty.

" It's been abandoned a while," Joel said.

"But why?" asked Ellie.

"I don't know, but we have to find tommy," he said, "maybe he can tell us what the hell,is going on." Clunk

"What was that?" Asked Ellie.

"Shhh," Joel retorted. They stood completely still, listening for any other noises. But none came. "Let's get out of here." They walked out from where they came and made a bend to the right into a lane that would lead them to what looked like the centre of the town.

While they headed along this passageway, something staggered out into their view in the distance.

"Shit, get down," Joel said, grabbing Ellie and pulling her down behind a couple of barrels at the side.

"What the fuck? Is that...a runner?" Ellie asked concerned. It can be seen, even at this distance, that it was having spasms, holding his head. Faint moaning could have been heard as the tension rose.

"It can't be..." Joel said in disbelief, "if a runner's here then that means..."

"The town people," Ellie offered, " do you think they..."

"Let's just go around it, we go back, use another passageway and get behind him," said Joel .

"Okay," Ellie said as the both backed up slowly and quietly, toward the bend they took. They never took their eyes off of that runner in the distance as they crept back. They didn't know how long it took but they finally arrived back to the passageway entrance.

"Alright, we made it. Lets just go around and head up the other way," Joel said. But when he turned to get moving in that direction, he bumped into Ellie who was standing still, almost statue like.

"Ellie what's wrong with y-," his voice trailed off. There in front of him, about a dozen or more runners were scattered, standing in place, heads in their hands.

"Joel?" Ellie said.

"Don't move Ellie," Joel whispered, "Don't. Move."


	2. Chapter 2

They slowly crouched down, careful not to even breathe too hard. They watched as those runners just stood there, losing what's left of their already distorted minds.

"Where the fuck did they come from?" Asked Ellie

"No clue," replied Joel, "what bothers me is why we didn't see them on the way in."

"What do we do?" asked Ellie. Joel looked towards the main gate. His first thought was to get back there and high tail out of here. But about three of the runners were already there, right in front of it. Even if they took them out, they wouldn't have enough time to open the gates before the rest of the runners swamped them.

"Stay close," Joel simply said. He proceeded very carefully back into the passageway and stalked up a few inches at a time. The lone runner was still there, still oblivious to the advancing duo. It wasn't facing them, it was turned sideways facing a wooden fence like a child put in timeout. Joel crept up, stealing glances back and forth between the runner straight ahead and to his right, where the passageway weaves around behind the horde, just to be sure that it was clear. It didn't have time to react as Joel wrapped his arm around its neck and suffocated it. Slowly letting the body slip from his grasp, they continued on, continuing straight ahead instead of going right.

"We gotta be careful, last thing we need is to be cornered in a place like this," Joel said. The houses and buildings in the settlement was seemingly placed in perfect symmetry, creating rows and columns between the houses causing a network of narrow passageways to manoeuvre about the town. If the horde was to get them while they were inside one of these, there's no doubt that without a miracle, they'll be finished.

They continued down the path, with Joel listening for anymore movements nearby. All he heard was the faint sounds of the infected in the distance.

"Hey, look," Ellie said, pointing a little ways off to the side of them. She pointed at a large building, around three stories made of concrete. The building itself looked much older than all the others they came across so far and one can imagine that it had been here even before anyone started living here. But what really caught Ellie's attention was someone, sitting in a chair, seemingly staring out of the window. Joel immediately tensed, not knowing what or who that was and he didn't like it. But he felt that getting into that building was going to reveal a few answers to questions that were eating away at his mind.

"Ok, i don't think he saw us yet," Joel said, "so we're gonna try to flank him. Might be another goddamn sniper." All at once Ellie remembered what had happened then. She remembered the sniper, the humvee, the hunters, the runners and Sam...being bitten.

"...we go up and take him by-, Ellie I'm talking to you," Joel frowned.

"Yeah, i heard...um..sure," Ellie said. Joel studied her for a moment, then looking right into her eyes,

"Hey, I won't let anything, anything happen to you, do you understand?" Joel said with determination in his voice.

"I know," Ellie said with a smile," thanks Joel. I got your back too."

"Ok. Let's get a move on then," Joel said.

"Right," Ellie replied. They proceeded behind the house they were just hiding next to, keeping out of sight of both the runners in the yard and the mysterious person in the window and eventually made their way to the other side. At their angle they couldn't see the person in the window anymore and that meant he couldn't see them either. But there was a runner, staggering out of the passageway directly in front of them across the yard.

"Shit," Joel said. Both he and Ellie crouched down. They didn't have anything to hide behind but it didn't matter. There was a good distance between them and the runner and it wasn't really paying much attention to them anyway. Joel poked his head out and looked to his right. The horde of the infected was a ways off but any commotion will bring them here quick. That's why he decided against throwing the rock that was at his feet to divert the runner's attention. It may also get the attention from a few up there as well.

"On my mark, you move fast and keep your head low alright?" Joel whispered to Ellie.

"You got it," Ellie replied. She looked at him while he pulled out a shiv. He waited, breathing steadily as he waited for his opportunity. After sometime, he got it. The runner turned its frame slightly to its left.

"Let's go," whispered Joel as he hurriedly moved up to the runner. It saw him at the last second and just as it was about to scream, Joel stabbed it right in its throat with the shiv and twisted it. It gargled a little as dark red blood sprouted from its wound all while Joel guided its body to the ground.

"Holy shit, Joel," exclaimed Ellie. As he laid the body down he quickly glanced to see if any of the ones further down has heard or seen anything.

"I think we're ok, they didn't notice," said Joel. Now he set his sights on getting into this building. It wasn't too hard considering the door wasn't locked as he slowly opened it. It was mostly dark except for the little rays of light that escaped the creases and spaces of the boarded windows. To be safe, Joel flicked on his flashlight and played the beam of light over a darkened area in the corner. It didn't have much, only a few old books scattered, with a few pieces of wood and ply sheets. Concrete boulders of various sizes and shapes were also around. But there was a letter I the ground and Joel moved over to it and read it.

They're coming for us, we tried to hold them off for as long as we could but there were too many of them. If you're reading this Marie, know that I tried my best to keep matty safe but I'm so sorry. I'm so so sorry...

Joel read the letter with a chill down his spine. He couldn't help but feel for the person who wrote that letter.

"The guy was on the second floor," Joel said, "let's keep it quiet and head up there."

"Do you think it's a person or..." Ellie asked.

"I don't know, but let's find out. Stay behind me k," Joel said.

"Ok," said Ellie. They crept up the staircase, making sure that every step they took was silenced. The walls on the way up was dark and cold, further adding to the already eerie atmosphere. They went up the second and last flight of steps before reaching that second floor. Unlike the rest of the floors, this one was wooden. It seemed to be a recent renovation, a quick fix to what may have been a collapsed floor. There were four rooms up here, one to the left and three others to the right. If he wasn't mistaken, that person should have been in the middle one of the ones on the right. It was the only door that was opened. Then there was the smell. Joel nudged his forward, putting a finger to his lips signaling Ellie to move silently. They stalked up to the door, with Joel silently cursing as every once in a while the wooden floor would creak and complain because of his weight. He got to the edge of the door frame and stole a glance in. The smell had gotten stronger now, that scent of the decaying, of the infected. He was still just sitting there. Listening carefully, faint static sounds from what seemed like a radio was could be heard. Joel motioned Ellie to follow, as he stepped into the room while quickly looking left and right to see if they were alone there. On the way there he pulled out the shiv. He crept quietly until he reached within range. When he felt he was in the right range, with his fingers to Ellie he counted to three. One...two...three! He leaped from where he was, grabbed the person by his shoulders and spun him around in the chair with his shiv wielding hand ready to strike. But, it's head fell off. Just like that.

"Oh, fuck," said Ellie seeing the head rolling by her feet. Joel studied it for a moment and saw a walkie talkie that also fell off of the person on the floor next to him. He picked it up.

"Still works," he said.

"Joel?" He looked over at Ellie. She was looking at something on the wall. He looked.

_**WE WARNED YOU**_

"What the hell happened here," Joel said with a exasperated tone. Then click click click click. They couldn't believe it. They fell dead silent not even breathing. Footsteps was coming up the hall. a clicker. It shuffled and made its way in front of the doorway and stopped. It looked around. Joel looked to his left at Ellie and she looked back at him. Both frozen, hoping it will just move on. After a while it started to walk away-

*_static_* "Nolan?" *_static_* "Nolan please, ans..." *_static_* then dies. A short shriek was heard as the clicker burst back into the room with hands flailing it quickly approached the source of the sound.

"Joel!" Ellie shouted. The clicker turned to her.

"Ellie, MOVE!" Joel shouted. Then two shots rang out.


	3. Chapter 3

The clicker dropped dead before Ellie. Both she and Joel fired off a round, hitting the clicker in the forehead and the back of the head respectively.

"Oh man...that was close," said Ellie.

"Too close," Joel said, "I forgot to turn this GODdamn thing off."

"But why was there a clicker?" asked Ellie. Joel studied a bit. He understood where the question came from. It took a long time to turn into a clicker when you first got infected, up to almost a here. And here it was, in this town where Tommy was supposed to be, where it was supposed to be safe.

"What the hell is going on?" Joel asked himself.

"Joel we gotta move!" Ellie yelled. Joel looked out the window and saw the runners from outside sprinting straight toward the building. there were too many of them to count let alone fight.

"That door downstairs ain't gonna hold, get upstairs now!" Joel shouted to Ellie. They both took off toward the staircase leading up to the 3rd floor. If they can find a place to hide up there, the runners shouldn't be able to find them. They weren't smart enough. Then they'll just move along, hopefully. But as soon as they set foot on that floor, they were greeted by two runners that must have been startled by the gunshots just as the horde outside was. Joel wasted no time in laying waste to nearer of the runners by firing three solid punches at its face before pulling it to the ground and stomping its head in. Ellie managed to duck out of the way of the reaching arms of the other runner before using her switch blade to stab it once in the back and then another stab to the back of the skull.

"Stay sharp, there might be more," Joel said. He listened in to see whether or not he can confirm it. He didn't hear anymore runners but...

"Do you hear that?" Joel asked Ellie.

"Hear what?" She asked. She was still breathing hard from the run up those stairs. The only thing she could hear was the beating of own heart.

"Listen..." Joel said with an arm raised. She did. Then, she heard it. A low, throaty croaking sound was coming from down the hallway accompanying slow footsteps.. They couldn't actually see what it was but Joel knew.

"Shit. A stalker," Joel whispered.

"Does it know we're here?" Ellie asked. Joel tensed as the footsteps became quicker and louder. Joel then sighed.

.

.

.

"Yeah," he said.

The stalker appeared in front of them. A loud, powerful screech was let out by it, almost like a war cry.

"Take him out!" Joel said. Both he and Ellie opened fire on the stalker, hitting it with 6-8 bullets which caused it to stumble back and fall. It was still alive, a low, weak growl that was barely audible. Ellie walked over to it to get a good look. The stalker mustered up all of its remaining strength to fire off one more loud screech before Ellie finished it off with a bullet to the head. But it wasn't over as more footsteps can be heard coming up the stairs.

"Shit they're comin'!" Joel exclaimed.

"What do we do?" asked Ellie.

"C'mon," Joel said. He led the way into a room. He quickly scanned the room for anymore of the infected and seeing none, he let Ellie get past him before quickly closing the door.

"Help me with this," Joel said. They managed to push an old cabinet in front of the door. It wasn't in the best of conditions but it'll buy them some time.

"Ok, now what?" Ellie asked. Joel looked around. The room was simple, a desk at the left corner of the room with a tipped over chair, the floor showed signs of being burnt at a large area in the centre of the room that looked like it could have been caused by a Molotov. On the right had a bunch of metal scraps and frames that had a few burn marks on them also. But what was important right now was a way to escape. There was a small window at the end of the room that they could use. It wasn't secured with wood like the rest of windows they've seen and one can only speculate that it was through there the Molotov could have came from. Joel went over to it and looked out. There was scaffolding just outside the window but that was it. The rest of it, that was supposed to be running along the bottom of the rest of the windows on this floor had collapsed. So even if they got out here, they didn't have nowhere else to go. They were trapped. Just then the cabinet that held the door shut started to rock violently with banging noises coming from the other side. They were trying to get in and it was only a matter of time before that cabinet gave away.

"Joel, that's not going to hold," Ellie said. He looked out the window again, clearly out of options.

"Out the window, hurry," Joel said. Ellie looked at him as if he was crazy, but she did what she was told. She followed Joel out and unto the scaffolding. It was shaky and very much unstable and they couldn't climb down without risking it coming loose and falling. Joel looked across from where they were. He can see the roof of the other building. It wasn't a bad drop and from this height it looked like they could make it.

"Are we jumping?" Ellie asked, she can almost read his mind.

"On three," Joel said. The cabinet inside broke apart and the infected was coming through, climbing over the rubble on route to them. Joel grabbed Ellie's hand and she held his tightly in response. Just in case they fell short, he can always shield her from the impact of the fall.

"One...two...three!" Joel said, getting two steps in before heaving off of the scaffolding with all the might they can muster. As they sailed through the air, the wind caught in their lungs, time seemed to stand still.

"Ugh!" Joel said as they landed on the roof.

"Oh man, we fucking made it," Ellie said with a bit of amusement and relief in her voice.

"Yeah," said Joel looking back at the scaffolding. Two runners were already on it. Then the scaffolding started to lean. The force of Joel and Ellie when they jumped from it was enough to finally bring it down. It carried the two runners with it on its way down, making a lot of noise as it hit the floor. Metal hitting the floor made a terrible, echoing type noise.

**_Creakkkkkk_**

The roof started to make noises also. It was made of wood mostly, with a tarp shielding it from the weather. But just as everything else it was damaged and weakened. And it was falling apart. It was too late for either one of them to make a move before the roof gave away under them.

"Ellie!" Joel said as he managed to pull her to him and held her on top of him. It wasn't a dramatic drop but, it still wasn't fun as it was at least a 7ft drop on top of the bits and pieces of wood that fell from the roof.

"Joel! Are you ok?!" Ellie asked. Joel groaned.

"Yeah.. Are you ok?" Joel said.

"Yeah, I'm good," Ellie said.

"Good...now you can get off me," Joel chuckled.

"Oh sorry," Ellie said with with a slight embarrassment. She rolled off of him and helped him get on his feet. Joel groaned as he tried to massage the pain out of his lower back. They looked around. The room was dark and barren, fitting into the theme of what they had seen in this town so far. It was a very large room, but nothing in it was useful. The good news was, no infected in sight.

"We need to find Tommy," Joel said.

"Yeah," Ellie said, "but where?"

"I don't know, but-" Joel began. It was interrupted by a loud screech coming from outside. They were coming back.

"Ugh, give us a fucking break!" Ellie said. A horde of runners became visible through the spaces of the boarded windows. Loud, hard banging came from the door. Joel looked behind him. There was a back door out of here. He quickly went over and tried to open it. Locked.

"Of course," Joel said with a sigh, "Ellie see if you can get this open while I try to hold them off."

"Ok," Ellie said as she wasted no time in getting to work. when she was a few seconds in, the boards of the window broke apart and the runners was getting in. Joel took aim with his pistol and took down the nearest one.

"Ellie, how's that door comin?" Joel asked as he laid waste to another runner.

"Almost there," she said, not slowing down. The runners were coming in at a manageable rate for Joel, as he was able to take them down quickly. But just as he was reloading, the door broke down and more infected hustled in.

"Shit! Ellie!" Joel said.

"I almost got it!" Ellie said. Joel reloaded just in time to shoot the runner that was only a few inches away from him. Joel had enough. He pulled out his shotgun. It didn't have a lot of shells left but he had to use what was left. He shot it, with the spread of the shot knocking back a few runners at a time. Then he shot again at the advancing set to his right and managed to push them back.

"There I got it!" Ellie exclaimed. That was all Joel needed to hear. He pulled out his last nail bomb and shook it. When the pressure built up he tossed it in the middle of the window and the door then fired off another shotgun round pushing back the set of runners closest to him.

"Time to go!" Joel said as Ellie opened the door and ran out. Joel quickly followed suit and as soon as he closed the door behind him, the nail bomb went off, bring about agonizing screams of pain from the infected inside. They weren't out in the clear yet however, as runners came at them from both sides. Joel ran forward with Ellie in front of him. She shot the advancing runners from the left as Joel, switching back to his pistol, covered her right as they both ran to find some sort of cover. They were running out of time.

**Happy Independence Day to my American readers. God Bless. And keep showing this story some love :)  
**


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